1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to coin-operated vending machines and, more particularly, is concerned with a vending machine and method for vending products one at a time from lower ends of a circular row of vertical columns of the products.
2. Description of the Prior Art
One general type of product that is well-known and universally popular and thus desirable to be able to dispense from a vending machine is a lollipop. The lollipop typically has an elongated thin stick-like handle for gripping by a consumer and a piece of candy of spherical, round or similar shape mounted on one end of the handle and covered by a wrapper of paper or the like prior to the purchase of the product by a consumer. Because of its makeup, the lollipop is difficult to store in large quantities in a vending machine and still be able to reliably and effectively dispense one at a time from the machine.
Vending machines of various constructions have been proposed in the prior art for dispensing a variety of products. Some representative examples of these prior art vending machines are found in U.S. Pat. No. 629,505 to Hollands, U.S. Pat. No. 736,980 to Kneedler, U.S. Pat. No. 1,347,558 to Simon, U.S. Pat. No. 2,208,298 to Mahaffey, U.S. Pat. No. 3,104,028 to Brown, U.S. Pat. No. 4,284,206 to Wittern, U.S. Pat. No. 4,876,532 to Sauls, U.S. Pat. No. 5,339,985 to Perez, U.S. Pat. No. 5,472,074 to Milcetic, U.S. Pat. No. 5,485,939 to Tucker, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,852 to Baker et al. Only the Milcetic and Tucker patents are directed to handling the dispensing of lollipops.
While these prior art devices appear to be satisfactory in use for the specific purposes for which they were designed, none of them seem to provide an optimum solution to the problem of being able to store large quantities of lollipops while also at the same time being able to dispense them one at a time. Consequently, a need still exists for an innovation which will provide a solution to the aforementioned problem in the prior art without introducing any new problems in place thereof.
The present invention provides a vending machine and method designed to satisfy the aforementioned need. The vending machine and method of the present invention provides for storing and dispensing of products, such as lollipops, in a highly organized and reliable manner. More particularly, the vending machine and method of the present invention provide and enhance the efficient utilization of the space occupied by lollipops within the machine, close control of each lollipop within the machine in terms of its location and movement at any given time, organized arrangement of the lollipops within the machine in a systematic fashion, and repeatable dispensing of the lollipops from the machine one at a time in response to each user inserting a coin into and turning a knob of a coin deposit station of the machine.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a machine for vending products which comprises: (a) a freestanding housing having upper, middle and lower sections, the lower section including a product discharge station, the middle section defining an opening to the lower section; (b) a product storage and dispensing magazine disposed in the upper section of the housing and rotatably supported therein by the middle section of the housing, the magazine including means defining a circular row of vertical channels having lower open ends such that products can be stored in circularly-arranged vertical columns thereof within the vertical channels with the vertical columns of products tending to move and feed downward through the open lower ends of the vertical channels due to the influence of the force of gravity; (c) a magazine indexing drive mechanism disposed in the upper and middle sections of the housing and being drivingly coupled to and operable to cause rotation of the magazine such that the magazine can be incrementally rotated about a circular path; (d) a product separation fixture disposed in and mounted by the middle section of the housing adjacent to the lower open ends of the vertical channels such that in response to operation of the drive mechanism the magazine rotates relative to the separation fixture and advances in succession lowermost ones of the products in the vertical columns thereof to the opening in the middle section of the housing where the products one at a time fall downward through the opening, the separation fixture overlying the opening and blocking a vertical path to the opening of products from the vertical columns thereof directly above the opening while still allowing passage of the products into the lowermost circular row thereof and one at a time to below the separation fixture and into the opening of the middle section of the housing; and (e) means disposed in the lower section of the housing for receiving a product which drops through the opening of the middle section of the housing and transferring the product through the lower section of the housing and into the product discharge station thereof.
The present invention also is directed to a method of vending products which comprises the steps of: (a) storing a multiplicity of products in a plurality of vertical columns thereof that are organized in a circular row wherein the products in each vertical column are disposed one above another and can feed downward due to the influence of the force of gravity; (b) incrementally rotating the plurality of vertical columns of products simultaneously about a circular path wherein lowermost ones of the products in the vertical columns thereof one at a time per revolution advance and cross over an inlet opening to a dispensing path; and (c) dispensing the lowermost ones of the products of the vertical columns thereof through the inlet opening by use of a separation fixture that prevents products from dropping directly into the inlet opening from the vertical columns when aligned above the inlet opening while letting products drop into a lowermost circular row thereof located below the columns and from the lowermost circular row one at a time through the inlet opening.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the drawings wherein there is shown and described an illustrative embodiment of the invention.